GCN Circular 7978

M. Perri (ASDC), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), J. R. Cummings (NASA/UMBC),
N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC), S. T. Holland (CRESST/USRA/GSFC),
E. A. Hoversten (PSU), J. A. Kennea (PSU),
H. A. Krimm (CRESST/GSFC/USRA), V. Mangano (INAF-IASFPA),
F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), P. T. O'Brien (U Leicester),
J. P. Osborne (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL),
D. Perez (U Leicester), B. Preger (ASDC), P. Schady (MSSL-UCL),
M. Stamatikos (NASA/ORAU), R. L. C. Starling (U Leicester),
G. Stratta (ASDC), M. C. Stroh (PSU), D. E. Vanden Berk (PSU) and
L. Vetere (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team:

At 17:52:56 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 080714 (trigger=316910).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 188.109, -60.279 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 12h 32m 26s
   Dec(J2000) = -60d 16' 42"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve showed a single-peaked
structure with a duration of about 40 sec.  The peak count rate
was ~5000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~1 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began observing the field at 17:54:16.4 UT, 79.7 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a bright,
uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 188.10733, -60.27708 which
is equivalent to:
   RA(J2000)  = 12h 32m 25.76s
   Dec(J2000) = -60d 16' 37.5"
with an uncertainty of 3.1 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 7.5 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the
BAT error circle. 

A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event
data gives a column density consistent with the Galactic value of
5.44e+21 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005). 

The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 5.01e-10 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10
keV). 

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 100 seconds with the White (160-650 nm)
filter starting 89 seconds after the BAT trigger. No afterglow candidate has
been found in the initial data products. The 2.7'x2.7' sub-image covers 100% of
the XRT error circle.  Because of the density of catalogued stars, further
analysis is required to report an upper limit for any afterglow in the
sub-image.    No correction has been made for the large, but uncertain extinction
expected. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is M. Perri (perri AT asdc.asi.it). 
Please contact the BA by email if you require additional information
regarding Swift followup of this burst. In extremely urgent cases, after
trying the Burst Advocate, you can contact the Swift PI by phone (see
Swift TOO web site for information: http://www.swift.psu.edu/too.html.)